Volt Birth Watch 41: GM CEO Seeks Tax Break for Chinese Volt
After the Chevy Volt makes its U.S. debut, GM plans to sell the gas - electric hybrid worldwide. GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz has already announced Australian Volt sales will begin “one or two years” after the car’s U.S. launch. GM also has their corporate eye on the “very important” European market. But just as the rest of the U.S. will have to wait for California to get their Volts, the rest of the world will have to wait for China. Rick Wagoner says his employer’s targeting The People’s Republic as the Volt’s second market– with one big “if.” According to Reuters, GM is “lobbying China’s government to provide subsidies for the development and sale” of alternative powerplants. Wagner wants China to provide tax credits and (while they’re at it) develop a hydrogen refueling infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles. Of course, much of GM’s credibility in such matters (and everything else) depends on a successful Volt launch in 2010, which Rabid Rick admitted is running “down to the wire.” God forbid they should release a not-ready-for-prime-time vehicle just to make the deadline…